There’s an old saying about the critical decision meeting: “If you’re not at that table, you’re on the menu.”
If you can, be at the table – if not in person, at least with well-articulated ideas and reputation known to the people in the room.
Your interactions and deliverables are deposits in your credibility account. Consciously build up a healthy balance.
My observation is that strong skills are a big factor in personnel decisions. Leaders want results. However, interpersonal behaviors can be the deciding factor. A skilled asshole is still an asshole that people aren’t thrilled to have around.
My coal-mining grandfather told me when I was a boy, “It’s a small world. Remember that before you piss in somebody’s corn flakes.”
It takes wisdom to know how to disagree, how to push for a different agenda, how to stand for what is best and right, and not leave a lasting negative impression. A big part of this is avoiding an issue becoming personal. Challenge ideas and plans without demeaning people. As Oprah says, “They will never forget how you made them feel.”
